Congress Must Act on Wildfire Resiliency

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak on behalf of the people of Colorado who are experiencing historic, destructive, and devastating wildfires. Four of the largest wildfires in our State's history have happened in just the last 18 months.

For my community, we are no longer witnessing wildfire seasons but, instead, wildfire years. Fires are burning in August, December, and March. Our communities are under threat by worsening, more dangerous, unrelenting wildfires 365 days a year.

I would like to explain, Madam Speaker, to the American people what this encroaching threat will mean for families, for firefighters, for communities, and for our neighborhoods.

On December 30, as the Speaker may be aware, a rangeland fire, fueled by hurricane-force winds, ran through suburban neighborhoods in my district of Louisville and Superior, Colorado, forcing over 30,000 people to evacuate and destroying 1,084 homes and businesses in less than 18 hours--1,084 homes and businesses in 18 hours.

Over 1,000 families left with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the items that they carried. Their lives will forever be changed as they begin the long, challenging, complex recovery process.

The Marshall fire, now the most destructive fire in Colorado history, was not the first, and it will not be the last.

The Cameron Peak fire in Larimer County, Colorado, burned over 400,000 acres from August 2020 through December of that year. The East Troublesome fire in Grand County grew more than 100,000 acres in 1 day. Collectively, those fires have destroyed countless structures and left millions in damages for our communities to take on.

Madam Speaker, these disasters warrant a response from the Federal Government, a bold, decisive response. We have proposed some of the potential solutions.

First, we have to start paying our firefighters a living wage. I was looking at job postings this morning, Madam Speaker, in my district. In Boulder, there are customer service representative positions at copy stores, shops, and retail establishments with a starting pay of $20 an hour, $23 an hour. Yet, we have Federal wildland firefighters making today $19 an hour, $18 an hour, $16 an hour as they are literally sacrificing so much and putting their own lives on the line to protect our communities. It is unconscionable, and it should be unacceptable to every Member of this body.

That is why we introduced Tim's Act to honor Tim Hart, a brave smokejumper who tragically lost his life last year working on a wildfire in New Mexico.

Our bill with Representative Liz Cheney is the first bipartisan, comprehensive legislation of its kind to significantly raise pay for Federal wildland firefighters and ensure access to mental health services, healthcare, housing, retirement benefits, and so much more.

These firefighters are risking their lives every day, Madam Speaker. They deserve just compensation. We have to change it, and I am committed to doing everything in my power to get this bill to the floor of this House.

We also have to support our communities in recovery. Rebuilding takes time, and it takes a lot of money. It is emotionally exhausting and complex.

Last week, families in my district in Boulder who are in the process of literally rebuilding their homes lost in the Marshall fire were evacuated from their new temporary homes, rental properties in Boulder, as the NCAR fire burned as close as 1,000 yards from homes in the area. Firefighters are literally working as we speak to contain that fire.

My bill, the Wildfire Recovery Act, which recently passed out of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last year, would help local communities like Boulder, Fort Collins, and communities across my State, from the Western Slope to the Eastern Plains, recover. It would invest money in mitigation, in resiliency.

It is time for us to get this done, Madam Speaker. I am committed to doing everything I can to get those bills and many more to the floor, and we intend to get this done.

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